BURLINGTON, Vt. -- After battling the Catamounts through a scoreless opening half, the UMass Lowell men's soccer team dropped a hard-fought 1-0 decision on Tuesday afternoon at Virtue Field.
 
The loss moved the River Hawks to 0-4-0 on the season and 0-2-0 in America East play, while Vermont moved to 2-0-1 overall and in conference action.

"I thought we controlled the game for long periods of time but needed to create better chances in the final third," commented head coach Christian Figueroa. "One mistake on our end early in the second half was the difference today."
 
UMass Lowell's best opportunity of the opening frame came in the 12th minute when senior Daniel Orrego (Revere, Mass.) sent a free kick off the left post. Junior German Fuentes (Joroco, El Salvador) was there with the rebound attempt, but his shot was ultimately blocked by the swarming Catamount defense.
 
A competitive opening 45 minutes saw the Catamounts maintain the edge in corner kicks 9-2 as well as shots 8-5. Despite the attacking advantage, UMass Lowell and Vermont were locked in a scoreless contest at the half.
 
Rookie Loucas Costeas (Nicosia, Cyprus) tallied two first-half saves to keep the Catamounts from advancing, while Vermont's Nathan Silveira had yet to make a stop.
 
With the score tied 0-0 heading into halftime, the home squad came out firing on all cylinders. In the 50th minute of the match, a River Hawk turnover led to Bjarni Adalsteinsson sending a pass to Evan Rouleau for a one-on-one opportunity with Costeas. Rouleau slid a shot just underneath Costeas and into the back of the net, to put Vermont up 1-0.
 
The River Hawks second opportunity to score came in the 70th minute when UMass Lowell was awarded their third corner kick of the day. Junior Felipe Cypriano (Malden, Mass.) blasted a shot to the left of the box where it found its way to fellow classmate Borna Miklic (Kutina, Croatia) for a header off the crossbar.
 
Costeas collected four saves on the day, while Vermont tallied one. The River Hawks were out shot 17-11 in the match with six of the home team's shots being on goal.  
 
UMass Lowell will have a chance to bounce-back with the home-field advantage as the River Hawks and Catamounts return to the pitch this Friday at 4 p.m. on Cushing Field.